http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_537532.html By Richard Gazarik TRIBUNE-REVIEW November 12, 2007 At 35, Max Ray Butler has led three lives. He began as the stereotypical 1990s computer wiz kid who parlayed his skills into a big-time business detecting the weak spots in corporations' computer security armor. Based in California's Silicon Valley, Butler was masterful at discerning vulnerable areas where deft hackers could access a company's computer system and steal personal financial information that could fetch millions of dollars on the black market. Temptation intervened, and Butler eventually became one of the criminals he had worked to thwart, according to government investigators. When he was caught, he moved on to his next life -- as a government informant. His life as a snitch came to a crashing end when he turned his back on the government. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of selling tens of thousands of credit card numbers to an associate in Western Pennsylvania who was a government informant. With that indictment, government officials claim they have taken one of the "significant players in the world of identity theft" off the streets. Federal authorities accuse Butler of compromising networks around the world by penetrating financial institutions' systems, stealing credit card and personal identification numbers, and then selling them. No price tag has been attached to the damage allegedly done by Butler. Today, the computer geek with the stringy, shoulder-length hair is behind bars at the Allegheny County Jail awaiting trial on charges that could put him in prison for up to 40 years. Max Ray Butler grew up uneventfully in Boise, according to court records. With a lifelong passion for computers, he graduated from high school and went to work as a technician at a local computer store. Court records say he honed his computer skills before acting on dreams that a bigger and better life might be found in Silicon Valley, Calif., the epicenter of the computer revolution. In the late 1990s, he moved to San Jose, married a woman named Kimi Winters and started a business called Max Vision, court records show. He snagged several contacts with companies to intentionally break into computer networks to test their security systems. While he was penetrating the networks and writing programs to close the breaches, he secretly left open a back door that would allow access later, prosecutors say. Authorities allege that during this time, Butler began to illegally hack into computer networks operated by the Air Force, NASA and the federal Defense and Energy departments. He didn't steal any information, but again left open a door so he could re-enter later, authorities said. It wasn't long before the FBI came calling. When agents scoured his home in 1998, a contrite Butler immediately confessed. The FBI said Butler could make amends by working as an informant. He helped the FBI crack a ring of hackers who had penetrated telephone company 3ComPBX. He attended a clandestine meeting of hackers in Las Vegas and obtained encryption information that helped federal agents learn the identities of hackers who generally attempt to mask their identities by using cryptic screen names. Then Butler suddenly shunned the FBI. He began missing meetings and didn't answer phone calls. [...] __________________________________________________________________ Visit InfoSec News http://www.infosecnews.org/
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